Maria Zambrono and her daughter Joanna Zambrono unload personal items from their car while moving from St. Leo's Church to the Estero Community Center Sunday evening. "We only took some of our stuff because we couldn't get everything out," said Joanna. "Only so much would fit in our car." The church had to move about 300 flood evacuees that stayed there Saturday night because it will serve as a polling place on Tuesday.

Staff

BONITA SPRINGS - Donations can be delivered to St. Leo Catholic Church, at 28290 Beaumont Road in Bonita Springs, or to Catholic Charities at 27050 Old 41 Road. The phone number for Catholic Charities is (239) 390-2928.

The outlook became more grim Sunday for two communities leaving their homes starting Friday night and early Saturday because of rising floodwaters.

With a mandatory evacuation announced Sunday for Manna Christian Village and Salivar mobile home parks, residents of the communities were forced to pack up for a second time in as many days to head for a more permanent shelter.

Roughly 270 people crammed into St. Leo Catholic Church in Bonita Springs on Saturday night, filling cots and trundle beds lining the walls of the makeshift shelter. Bonita Springs lacks a hurricane shelter, and the residents of the two communities just east of Interstate 75 were wary of evacuating to the Lee County Convention Center.

Bonita Springs Fire Rescue spokeswoman Debbi Redfield said 20 people were housed at the convention center, an official Red Cross shelter, Saturday night. Those people were also transferred to the new shelter, at Estero Community Center on Corkscrew Road, Sunday night.

"This shelter was opened very quickly yesterday, as you know, and also as a very temporary location," Redfield said Sunday just after 4 p.m., to the evacuees gathered in the sanctuary of St. Leo.

She spoke in English as Catholic Charities Administrative Assistant Gloria Holy translated Redfield's words into Spanish. Those gathered cradled babies and crossed their arms, some with red eyes and others with furrowed brows as thunder sounded ominously outside.

Church staff and Catholic Charities volunteers herded the displaced adults into the church's community hall to tell them they would not only have to move again, but they would not be able to return to their homes for the time being.

Flood waters rose another 6 inches Sunday, Redfield estimated, making the situation increasingly unsafe for the dozen or so families who opted to stay behind as rainwater overflowed from the Imperial River Basin. Bonita Springs fire personnel were going door-to-door Sunday to inform those residents of the mandatory evacuation order.

While Redfield and other officials said it was impossible to say how long it would be before people could return to their homes, some of the displaced residents said the buzz around the shelter was a few weeks to a few months.

"It was all of a sudden that we had to move," said Anna Zambrano, 22. "When we left, there were firemen telling us it was going to be one to three months, which shocked us."

Zambrano said she could remember one other time that floodwaters were as bad in Manna Christian Village, about 11 years ago. She was just a little girl at the time, but she said her father told her they were out of their home for a month during that period.

"So I believe them when they say it's going to be that long," said Zambrano, who left with her husband and two small children Friday night when the water was up to their ankles.

By Saturday morning, people were wading through thigh-deep water with backpacks, trash bags — whatever they could carry in a single armload.

"I just brought a backpack, thinking just in case, I would have two or three changes of clothes," said Roberto Villalpando, who left Salivar on Saturday morning with his girlfriend and two young daughters.

Villalpando was one of the few people who had a chance to stop at the store for diapers and a few other essentials before going to the shelter Saturday. Sunday night, church staffers, volunteers and Red Cross officials helped move the evacuees to their new shelter, in the Estero Community Center on Corkscrew Road. Those without their own cars were taken by bus.

"You'll have a lot more room, it's almost a brand new facility," Redfield said in English and Holy translated. "It has showers."

The Rev. Stan Strycharz chimed in to tell people not to leave before getting a hot meal; members of the Knights of Columbus had arrived to cook a dinner of pork and rice for those staying in the shelter. He said the church would continue to provide services to the evacuees, even when it was closed as a shelter.

Buses would be available to take the children to school from the new shelter this morning, Redfield added.

The gathered adults erupted into spontaneous applause, clearly relieved to be moving to a more spacious shelter, even with the news looming of an increased period of displacement.

Lee County officials toured the area by helicopter over the weekend to get a look at the breadth of the situation.

Mark White, a compliance officer with the South Florida Water Management District, said it would be this morning before they would know what to expect.

"Today the water was still rising," White said Sunday. "We were thinking it was going to start to go down tonight, but you never know what Mother Nature is going to do."

He said the entire region is interconnected with the swamp stretching through Corkscrew Sanctuary and toward Lake Trafford. From the air Sunday, he said, it was obvious Lake Trafford had topped its banks. As that water searched for a place to go, it flooded the communities in the east of Lee County, as well as areas in North Fort Myers, and Charlotte and Hendry counties.

White, too declined to say how long it would take for the waters to return to normal. At least a week, he said, but that depends on Mother Nature giving the area a break.

Evacuees will be supplied with cots and three meals a day at the new Red Cross shelter in Estero. However, volunteers are still asking for donations of all kinds to assist with the effort.

"We need food, blankets, clothes of all sizes, baby supplies, even gift cards," said Martha Vivas, the program director for Hispanic Services of Catholic Charities in Bonita Springs.

Redfield asked that donations of supplies not be taken to the shelter. Donations can instead be delivered to St. Leo Catholic Church, at 28290 Beaumont Road in Bonita Springs, or to Catholic Charities at 27050 Old 41 Road. The phone number for Catholic Charities is (239) 390-2928.

While the evacuation order applies only to residents of the two mobile home parks and surrounding areas north of Bonita Beach Road and east of Bonita Grande Drive, Redfield emphasized the need for caution from all the area's residents.

"Any area that's flooded, stay out of it," she said. "It's a safety and health risk. There are toxins in the water from the roads, and fire ants, snakes. Any animals out there are going to be looking for higher ground."